A MAZE OF GREED

Elsie was brushing her hair in her chamber, sitting in front of the long mirror with a wooden brush. It was about time for breakfast and she didn't want to get late for that.

These mornings were her favourites. They made her excited to start her day. She was more than happy these days. These days she wanted to take efforts to get ready. She wanted to look pretty and attractive. And the reason was certain someone with green eyes.

She felt butterflies in her stomach at the mere thought of that person. She giggled at her berserk mind and her childish heart.

Humming a melody, she set her hair the way she wanted and smiled satisfyingly at the way she looked. She then put on her stone studded earrings that matched with her olive green coloured dress.

Green had become her most favourite colour!

Her attention was caught by a soft knock on the door. Thinking that it was a servant, she permitted the person to enter the room without turning to look back.

The person silently entered the room closing the door behind him.

"Can you get my shoes from the top shelf, the black ones?" Elsie ordered while she searched for the hairpin in her drawer of the vanity.

A strand of hair had come loose from her hairstyle due to the wind that passed through the open window.

"Where did I put it? Oh God, I can't find a single thing in this mess." Oblivious to the person who watched her mumbling with amusement, she rummaged through the drawer.

The person without saying a word got the shoes that she requested from the shelf that was situated at the other end of the room. Walking towards her distracted form, he put them near her feet.

The gentle touch of the calloused skin startled the daylights out of her and she gasped loudly in shock to see that the person was not any servant.

The person who got her shoes and was kneeling at her feet was no one but Lester. Surprised by his action, Elsie was about to get up from her seat but when Lester slowly lifted his head to look at her face, she felt that something was odd.

"Lester, what are you doing? I apologise. I thought it was a servant and I-" Her panicked ramble was stopped by Lester's calm voice.

"I don't mind it, Elsie. May I?" He asked for her permission to put the shoes on her feet.

"But-" Elsie was not only hesitant but was mortified at the fact that she had mistaken Lester for a servant.

"Please allow me!" The distinct emotion in his voice sent goosebumps on her skin.

Falteringly Elsie allowed him by nodding her head. She sucked a deep breath when Lester again touched the heel of her left foot to put it in the shoe. Her heart drummed hard against her chest, a blush crept her neck to reach her ears.

His single touch set her body in some anonymous paradise from where she didn't want to return back to the earth. Breathing heavily she gathered every bit of his woody scent that belonged only to him.

Lester took his sweet time to do a simple job of putting on her shoes as if he was planning a warfare strategy in great detail. He wanted to savour this moment in his heart when he went back to his home.

The mere thought of leaving her pained him to the lengths that not any wound that he had got was capable of.

Elsie waited patiently trying hard to control her erratic thoughts. When Lester was finished, his eyes again searched for Elsie's face.

Sensing his peculiar mood Elsie chose to break the silence between them.

"Lester you shouldn't have done that. It is... it is not right for a man like you to kneel in front of a woman." Though she tried to be normal about the situation, she couldn't hide the shyness and excitement of her heart.

Lester could hear it all.

"Elsie, you know that I can hear the loud beating of your heart." He commented amused at her reaction when her eyes widened and the blush on her face turned a shade darker.

"I- I... Why were you here?" She decided to avoid further embarrassment by changing the course of their conversation.

"Am I not allowed to come here?"

His spontaneous reaction was shaking her head vigorously. "No...no. I didn't mean it like that. I was just... I mean..."

"I came because I wanted to see you. Is that enough good reason, my Elsie?"

'My Elsie', no words could describe the state of her heart upon hearing those words coming from his mouth.

Unbale to look at him, she turned her face away with a broad smile on her face. Lester took a step closer and put his first finger under her chin then turned her face towards him.

"Elsie... I want to say something to you." His voice came earnestly and all Elsie could do was just nod her head to tell him to continue.

"These days in your presence, they were the most beautiful memories of my life. They felt the same as our childhood."

"Yes. That's true!" She agreed with him immediately.

"Can I ask you something, Elsie? For once, can you answer me truthfully without thinking about anything else? Can you tell me what lies in your heart?"

Suddenly Elsie got aware of the vulnerability in his voice. She couldn't understand what he was trying to do but in some corner of her heart, the unsettling feeling had started to spread like dark ivy.

"Lester, now you are scaring me. What is it? I promise I will answer truthfully!"

Her watery eyes stared deep into his tender green ones. Both of their hearts beating rhythmically on the same beat.

Mustering all the courage and the encouragement he got from Edwin, Lester finally opened his heart in front of her after years of wait.

"Elsie, do you... do you love me?"

This question... she was dying to hear it coming from Lester for years now. Since their childhood, when she met him for the first time, she felt an invisible pull towards him. But it was just her little crush on him.

He was smart, handsome, polite and gentle. He used to tease Elsie to always get her attention towards him because he also felt the same pull towards her.

As they grew up over the years they both thought that what they felt would get over their childhood crush on each other. But on the contrary, that pull also grew into something strong and irresistible.

During these past days, they both realised the fact that the pull they considered as childhood crush was something that the Moon Goddess had written in their destiny. She had bounded their souls by an adamantine and perpetual bond that only death could do them apart.

Peering through her long lashes with tears of joy in her eyes, Elsie replied earnestly in a hope that her words would convey her feelings.

"Yes... I love you so much, Lester! I have been in love with you for years."

Lester's eyes held a surprise. "You did? Then why didn't you say anything before, Elsie?"

Elsie's eyes waver from his face to look down, her face fell a little. "I thought that you... you liked sister Eloise and-"

"Elsie! How can I like another woman when the Moon Goddess has destined us to be mates?" Lester was annoyed that Elsie thought he had feelings for her elder sister.

"What? Mates?" Elsie's eyes widened in shock.

Wrapping his hands around her waist, Lester stared down at her with a small smile on his lips. She was conscious of his action and surprised too but she didn't react because she didn't want to ruin the moment.

"Yes, my dear Elsie. We are mates! Have you ever felt it, here?" He kept his hand on his chest.

Elsie nodded still trying to wrap her mind around the shock that she got just now. She had this idea in her mind but the way Eloise and Lester behaved with each other and Eloise's words always made her discard that possibility.

Holding her again by both his hands he pulled her closer to him. His action made Elsie blush furiously.

"You do know what it means right? You know who mate is and-"

Frowning at his teasing Elsie glared at him. "Stop making fun of me. I know what mate is. I am a werewolf, of course, I know everything about it!" She defended herself.

She had read many romantic stories all her life. Although most of them were bout human love, there were some fantasy-romance stories about werewolves too. Besides, there were numerous romantic novels about their breed in the collection of the O'Dells.

While reading those stories, Elsie had always got butterflies in her stomach at the thought that one day she would also find her mate. The person who was bounded to be hers by the Moon Goddess.

And every time when she thought that, only one face came to her mind. Lester!

And today, her fairytale had turned true!

"Then why do you look this shocked?"

"Because... I knew I had feelings for you but I was not sure if we were mates or not and I didn't want to say it out loud to you because if we weren't mates then it would have been wrong to love you." A tear rolled down her eyes that made Lester's face softened.

"I know that our werewolf powers are suppressed over the years and it sometimes makes it harder to understand the obvious. But I always knew that you are my mate." He ran the back of his fingers on the side of her face.

"Then why didn't you tell me before?"